Apparatus for treating gilsonite ores



Aug. 6, 1935. c. J. NEAL 1 APPARATUS FOR TREATING GILSONITE ORES Filed Jan, 1 1955 Patented Aug. 6, 1935 APPARATUS FOR TREATING GILSONITE ORES Charles J. Neal, F

Application January 17 I 4 Claims.

My invention relates to the preparation of gilsonite ore for commercial trade and has for its object to provide a new and efficient apparatus for melting the gilsonite and removing impurities and foreign matter therefrom, leaving the pure ore to be drawn off into cooling vats and broken into the desired sized pieces for shipment.

A further object is to provide a device for melting gilsonite which keeps the gilsonite agitated at all times while in the process and which melts the gilsonite into an even constituency, feeding just a small amount of the ore into the device at a time, immediately melting this ore into the 01's already in the device, and keeping the entire mass in the retort agitated while the feed continues.

A still further object is to provide a vertical melting retort for gilsonite ores, which heats the ores from the side walls and from a central fiue, without any chance of the ore coking onto the chamber or driving off any of the desirable volatile matters in the ore.

A still further object is to provide an economical, and commercial apparatus for melting the gilsonite ores, removing the impurities and foreign matter and preparing the ores for shipment without changing the analysis of the ores other than to drive off the water that may be contained in the ore.

These objects I accomplish with the device il- 30 lustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which similar numerals and letters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views and as described in the specification forming a part of this application and pointed out in the appended claims. A still further object is to provide means to vent water vapors through the openings in the agitator pipe and carry them to the surface, thereby preventing any of the water vapors from causing steam agitation of the materials.

In the drawing, in Figure 1, I have shown the device sectioned diametrically and vertically to show all the parts of the device.

Figure 2 is a section on line 22 of Figure 1 to show the agitator blades cut from the vertical stand pipe of the agitator.

In the drawing I have shown the heat chamber of my device as made of a vertical chamber A, having the walls B provided with an annular chamber C therethrough, near the bottom thereof, from which heat is transmitted through opening D therein. The heat is transmitted into the vertical heat chamber A for heating the cylindrical tapered melting retort E of the device. The retort E is mounted centrally within the chamber ort Duchesne, Utah 1933, Serial No. 652,189

A and is tapered from the top to the bottom and is suspended from the larger top end by having an overlapping flange 5 fitting onto a ring plate 2 on the top or" the chamber walls B closing oil the top of the chamber A and at the same time supporting the cylindrical retort E. A ring 3 01 suitable insulating material is placed under the plate 2 to hold the heat in the chamber A. The bottom end of the chamber A is closed by a ring plate 5 and the bottom end or the retort E is provided with opposed lugs 6 onto which lugs the locking lugs l of the securing bracket 8 are engaged. The bottom of the retort E is closed by a bottom plate 9 held in place by a. screw til being passed through the-medial thickenedportion ll of the bracket 8 and engaging in a socket !2 in the plate 9. ihrough one side of the ey lindrical chamber E, I secure a flue l5 and onto the end of the flue I secure an elbow l6 and a vertical flue vent pipe ll extending up and out through the top of the device with a butterfly valve it in the upper portion of the pipe above the top of the heating chamber. This provides for central or medial heat passing up through the heating retort to aid in distributing heat through the ores. Surrounding the vertical pipe !1, I then mount an agitator or mixer l9 which is made of a cylindrical body having agitating arms 26 cut from the sides thereof and bent up at right angles to the vertical body and the arms are then bent at an angle to make the blade portions 2! at an angle to the vertical pipe with the face of the blades angled from a horizontal position so as to exert a lifting or plowing action on the material. These blades are cut from the body on several sides and are staggered in relation to each other to make the body strong and the work distributed for the blades.

The agitator is suspended from a ring gear 33 which ring gear is mounted on a bearing support 34 on a ball bearing 35. The support 34 rests on the top of the closure plate 35 of the top of the retort E and a pinion 3'! engages the ring gear 33 to drive the agitator. The pinion is mounted on a shaft 38 driven by a pulley 39 and this assembly is supported by bearing brackets 40. A feed hopper H is provided leading into the center of the closure plate 36 and to an opening 42 therein; and a feed finger 43 is mounted to the agitator l9, said finger sweeping just a portion of the ore in the hopper into the opening 42 with each revolution of the agitator.

A draw ofi pipe 44 is mounted through one side of the chamber A into the interior bore of the retort E through which molten ore is drawn oil after the melt is finished. A valve 45 is carried in said pipe to control the flow of material therethrough, said valve having the head 46 within the retort and beveled to close the opening of the pipe 44 when drawn thereinto by the valve stem H. The end of the stern H is attached to a lever t8 which lever is mounted on the end of the pipe 44 by a bracket carrying a toggle Q9, which toggle is attached to the lever 58 to allow the lever to open and close the valve and at the same time allow for rotary action of the valve stem 45 by the operator to aid in starting the fiou therethrough when drawing off the material from the retort.

The entire apparatus is mounted on a foundation high enough to merit the necessary work of removing the bottom plate to clean out the retort when necessary.

A flue 56 is attached to the top of the chamber A to draw off the gases therefrom and provide a draft therethrough. A valve controls the flue 56 as desired.

Having thus described my invention I desire to secure by Letters Patent and claim:

1. In a device of the class described the combination of a vertical heat chamber; a tapered retort carried therein; a central heat conduit through said retort in open connection through one side of the retort with the heat chamber; means to close the bottom of said retort; means to close the top of said retort; an agitator carried in said retort adapted to be rotated about said central conduit to carry ofi water vapors and keep the materials in the retort evenly mixed; means to feed the material into the top of said retort; and means to draw off the molten material from the retort near the bottom end thereof.

2. In a device for melting gilsonite ore without changing the properties thereof, the combination of a vertical retort; means to introduce heat through the center of said retort; means to transmit heat radially into the gilsonite within said retort from the center heating means comprising tilted arms rotating therearound; and means to draw off the molten ore from the retort near the bottom end thereof.

3. In a device for melting gilsonite ore without changing the properties thereof, the combination of a vertical retort; a heat conduit and a heat chamber respectively, internally and externally concentric with said retort, said conduit communicating with the heat chamber adjacent the bottom of the retort; means to introduce ore into said retort; means to draw molten ore from the retort near the bottom end thereof and means to agitate the ore during heating and melting thereof.

4. In a device for melting gilsonite ore without changing the properties thereof, the combination of a vertical retort; means to introduce gilsonite into the top of said retort; means to introduce heat into the gilsonite within the retort radially from the center of said retort; means to heat the exterior of said retort; means to collect foreign material in the bottom of said retort; and means to draw off the molten ore from the retort spaced above the bottom collecting portion of the retort.

CHARLES J. NEAL. 

